Ueda Soko Ryu

Though our podcast, TeaLife.Audio, I got in contact with a teacher for the Ueda Soko Ryu of Tea. I have wanted to learn more about the warrior type of Tea since forever. Early in November Adam came to Norway to teach Stig and I Ueda style of Tea.

Before this weekend I had very litle knowledge of the Ueda school, most of what I knew came from our discussion with Adam in episode 44 of TeaLife Audio and the tea duet. Adam came on a Thursday early in November. We started the tea weekend with him serving us usucha, and I was stunned at all the differences. I had seen some of the differences in the aforementioned YouTube video, but once I saw it live I saw so many more differences. The order of the temae is identical to Urasenke, enter the rom, purify natsume then chashaku, clean chawan, make tea and clean up in reverse.

I used to say that I could see if it was a Ura- or Omotesenke temae before the host enters the tea room, just by the
placement of the mizusashi and the bow in the door. In this case you can see the different even as the door is opened. The way the door i pushed open is distinctly
different in Ueda Ryu. Right hand opens the door the first few centimetre, just as in Urasenke, but then the door is pushed open holding your left hand flatt in a cutting motion parallel to the floor.

There are too many difference to go though all of them, but two very distinct ones are the folding of fukusa and holding hishaku in a resting position. The resting position can bee seen in the photos included in this post.

During the weekend we recorded three episodes of TeaLife Audio. These will be episodes 48, 49 and 50.

During the weekend I got to see a few great temaes, and do some my self. I enjoyed the way Tabidansu is handled in Ueda Ryu. The middle shelf is taken all the way out and placed on the upper shelf. That way you have much easier access to the mizusashi.

We concluded the weekend by having a chaji that we jokingly called two-host-no-guest. During this chaji we did Urasenke style tsubo kazari, showing off the storage teajar. Then we opened up the jar that had been sealed up since my hatsudate early in 2016. Adam selected the koicha he wanted to drink. I poured out usucha and found the selected koicha, as shown on the photo underneath.

We concluded the weekend with a Kuchi-kiri chaji

After resealing the chatsubo we exited the tea room and took turns grinding the koicha and having our meal. Once we had enough koicha we headed back to the tea room and I did Ueda style koicha followed by Adam doing Ueda style usucha. I enjoyed the event very much.

More photos from the weekend

Adam enjoying tea in the seasons first snow

Stig

Resting the hishaku in Uedas version of Kama-e

Making tea crosslegged, Ueda school is more lenient in seating position